The extensive research work of Charles Sturt University (CSU) ecologist, Associate Professor Gary Luck in the area of biodiversity conservation has been publicly acknowledged in the 2009 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence. The Vice-Chancellor and President of CSU Professor Ian Goulter announced on Monday 22 June the recipients of this year’s awards to academic and general staff. The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence has gone to Associate Professor Luck from the School of Environmental Sciences  at CSU at Albury-Wodonga and a member of the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society. His internationally recognised work focuses on two key areas in ecosystem services and conservation near human settlements. Ms Kristy Robson from the School of Community Health at CSU at Albury-Wodonga has been named winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Professional Excellence for her work the University’s Allied Health Clinic where podiatry and other students obtain clinical experience. There are two recipients of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in lecturer Ms Amanda Davies from the School of Policing Studies at CSU at Goulburn and lecturer Dr Jennifer Sappey from the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies at CSU at Bathurst. Awards for excellence in leadership, performance and programs that enhance learning have also been announced. Professor Goulter will present the awards during ceremonies at Bathurst on Tuesday 30 June and at Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 1 July.

A confronting portrayal of daily life for women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be brought home during a public lecture in Albury on Wednesday 17 June by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dr Elaine Dietsch. For the past five years, Dr Dietsch, a senior lecturer in CSU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, has worked with traditional midwives and women in the DRC. Her public lecture, Hell, Horror and Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo, relates to her last visit to the country in May and June 2008. Despite the official end of civil war in the equatorial African country, women and girls in the country's south-east continue to experience sexual assault and torture. The address, part of the CSU 2009 Public Lecture series, will be held in Nowik Auditorium, CSU Albury City site, Guinea St, Albury.

People with communication problems resulting from neurological impairment who have been employed to tutor small groups of speech pathology students will be thanked at a ceremony at Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Wednesday 10 June. Employed by the University’s speech pathology program to tutor the third year students for 18 hours over six weeks, the client-tutor program helps the students catch a glimpse of their clients’ worlds. The tutors teach the CSU students about what it is like to live each day with communication problems resulting from such conditions as stroke or traumatic brain injury. The tutors also discussed the experiences of their family members; their experiences of therapy and of the health service in general; and their experiences of community attitudes towards their disability. The ceremony will include short presentations by the five student groups about their experiences with their tutors. This event will be held at 3pm on 10 June, in the Sloshed Cod, CSU Albury City site, off Olive St, Albury.  

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will celebrate the award of six green stars and ‘world leader’ status for environmentally sustainable features to a new building on its Thurgoona site. The Academic Accommodation Stage 3 (AA3) office building has received “a six star Green Star ‘World Leader’ certified rating under Office Design v2” from the national Green Building Council of Australia. Staff from the AA3 building, which is home to the academic staff and students of CSU’s School of Business and Information Technology, will be on hand celebrate the award at a morning tea at 10am on Monday 15 June. “The principles used in buildings at Thurgoona demonstrate a comprehensive, environmentally sensitive process that spans from site planning to selection of materials,” said Executive Director of the University’s Division of Facilities Management, Mr Stephen Butt. Innovative aspects of the building that receive special mention include reduced carbon dioxide production and energy consumption by 65 per cent, and the world’s first use of phase-changing materials in the concrete floor to reduce heating and cooling used in the building.

Before sunrise, a dedicated group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are focussed on evaluating the quality of meat carcasses. The students enrolled in animal, equine, agricultural and veterinary sciences arrive at companies like Cargill Beef Australia and Knights Meats in Wagga Wagga and the Junee Abattoir as early as six o’clock in the morning to learn about carcass evaluation and meat quality.  The student group is led by CSU’s carcass evaluation expert and fifth year Veterinary Science student Mr Richard Sanders.  “The importance of maintaining the flow of trained young experts in the speciality field of Meat Science to service the needs of the beef, sheep and pork industries is not lost on these companies,” said CSU Professor of Animal Production Peter Wynn. “The companies willingly make their facilities available each year for the education of our students.” The students will attend a carcass evaluation workshop sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia in Armidale in early July.  They will then have a chance to participate in an elite national training workshop and selection in an Australian team to compete in international carcass evaluation competitions.  “None of these opportunities would be possible without the support of the management of these companies,” said Professor Wynn.  

Television production students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga have broken new ground in their on-going development of links with industry. The Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has agreed to the establishment of a CSU student chapter of the Society. The Society's Board of Governors approved the move during a meeting in Atlanta in the United States on Thursday 4 June. The move is the inaugural student chapter in Australia. Formed in 1916, the SMPTE is regarded as the leading technical society for the motion imaging industry. "This new relationship will give CSU students access to conferences, papers, scholarships, guest lectures and of course international industry contacts," said television production course co-ordinator Mr Patrick Sproule. "I believe the approval to form the CSU student chapter shows an enormous respect for the course at Charles Sturt University as well as the Society's recognition of the importance of investment in education in the TV and film industries. A special thanks to past chairman of SMPTE Australian Section, Mr John Maizels, for recommending the formation of the student chapter and shepherding us through due process." Meanwhile, the SMPTE Australian Section has donated $6 000 so 85 Bachelor of Arts (Television Production) students at CSU at Wagga Wagga can attend the SMPTE09 conference in Sydney in July.

The Charles Sturt University Equine Centre is pitching in to help the fundraising efforts on Saturday 13 June for injured horse rider Ms Annie Woodhouse. Ms Woodhouse, from Numerella near Cooma, is recovering from a road accident in March. Ms Woodhouse is the joint secretary and treasurer of the Capital Area Reining Horse Association (CARHA) which has regular competition days in Canberra and Wagga Wagga. The Association is organising the charity day at the CSU Equine Centre at Wagga Wagga to raise money for Ms Woodhouse’s living and rehabilitation expenses. CSU has waived the regular hire fees for its Equine Centre. Horse reining professionals Mr Warwick Schiller and Mrs Robyn Schiller will run a morning training clinic which will be followed by a barbecue lunch. In the afternoon, reining patterns will be run with commentary from clinicians and judges.  

Commissioner of the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) in NSW, Mr John Pritchard and former Senator and Australian Democrats leader, Ms Lyn Allison will headline a national conference focusing on ethics in the community next week. The 16th annual Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics (AAPAE) Conference will be hosted by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Policing Studies in Goulburn, NSW from Tuesday 9 June to Thursday 11 June. Conference convenor and CSU lecturer in Policing Studies Dr Anna Corbo Crehan says around 50 delegates from universities and the professions are expected to attend to participate in discussion of issues in applied and professional ethics. Dr Corbo Crehan will present a paper entitled ’Appropriate police discretion and Indigenous over-representation in the Criminal Justice System’. Other presentations will focus on ethics in policing; the socio-legal ethics of vulnerable people; and ethics and money in sport.

A catalogue for an art exhibition at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in 2008 has been named a joint winner in the national Museums Australia Multimedia and Publication Design Award 2009. The catalogue for the exhibition, ELEMENTS: Dianne Fogwell was produced by the CSU Art Collection and designed by Eunice Song, the Creative Director of E-Com Consulting & Design. The judges comments included “‘being a book about a book’, it has a sensibility to the artist’s medium – the designer really understands typography”.The catalogue was produced to coincide with the exhibition held during graduation ceremonies at CSU at Wagga Wagga in April 2008. A total of 406 entries were received for the awards from over 100 Australian and international organisations. The CSU Art Collection is one of 17 collections short-listed in its group, Level A Exhibition Catalogue – Small (Under 64 pages). The entries were judged on their relevance, communication clarity and degree of usability. The winners were announced on Monday 19 May as part of Museums Australia’s National Conference in Newcastle.